Something about Sundays often leaves me confused. And unfortunately this past Sunday seemed worse than usual and contrary to the usual, Monday morning did very little to clear my mind and shake my sense of agitation.

Of course, it’s obvious Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City is to blame as the impetus of my consternation and, really, how could you argue?

After all, it was a game where we matched the northern oil barons stride for stride, and shot for shot only to fall short in the end. Afterwards pundits  all over the blogosphere were applauding the Gunners’ courage in this fixture, their fortitude to attack when others would not dare, and some fine work by Joe Hart to keep Arsenal from snatching a result.

Watching the game I could do little to disagree. It was a fantastic, end-to-end affair, with both clubs creating chances through dizzying movement and pinpoint passing which was only undone by top-class goalkeeping. If anything, this game proved we support a very good team that, on its day, can put its financial differences aside and compete with the top clubs in the world.

This is where my confusion creeps in. After all, at the end of the day, we still lost.

So why all the pats on the back?

Now I don’t want to be one of those doomsday prognosticators who say they are supporters but are already writing the club’s epitaph as one what WAS one of England’s great clubs. No, I am far too new to the club to claim anything of the sort and, anyways from my vantage point I believe we are embarking on a new and exciting course (more on that in a coming column).

Anyways, back to the point I was trying to back.

Over the last couple of months I’ve taken to watching the likes of Real Madrid and it was during one of their many demolitions of some lower ranked squad when I had an epiphany; this is what I want for the Arsenal.

I want to watch in awe at the speed and skill of the team week in and week out. I want the team to be glorified and feared and for everyone to know that no matter how you play, whether you want to try and out pass us or out tackle us, you will not be successful.  I want art to be created on the pitch.

Now before anyone jumps all over let me explain a little further. I don’t want the Galacticos, or the arrogance of Jose Mourinho. What I want is the glamour and the presence of a team like Real (or Barca).  But I want this all done the Arsenal way – with the club’s current policies and self-sustaining model and, as mentioned, I think we are on our way and have the right manager (if there is one who can pull off what could be a tricky feat) in place to do this.

And I certainly don’t want to denigrate the fine effort put forth on Sunday or to undermine the great strides the team has made since the start of the season. But I don’t want us to be happy with a 1-0 defeat.

That just isn’t what the big clubs do.

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